When Pierce is temporarily put in charge of the 4077th, the weight of the responsibility takes its toll. He changes, becoming up-tight and authoritarian.
When the Army increases the number of points needed for a discharge, Hawkeye gets angry and interrupts official peace talks. Meanwhile, Margaret decides to divorce Donald after he permanently transfers himself stateside.
Radar gets bent out of shape when he thinks Colonel Potter is spending too much time with a visiting female colonel, and Hawkeye tries to figure out what BJ's initials stand for.
Major Winchester lets his surgical prowess go to his head when a "Stars and Stripes" journalist comes to interview him. But the journalist is more interested in making moves on Margaret than getting the story.
The 4077th is forced to use extreme measures to save a group of soldiers suffering from hypothermia, while Klinger suffers temporary deafness after a mine explosion on his watch.
A North Korean Spy infiltrates the 4077 and poses as Charles' houseboy, to observe and report on 4077th's efficiency and success to his superiors. The staff is baffled by a skin-rash epidemic.
Winchester encourages Hawkeye, B.J. and Margaret to raise the stakes in their practical joke battle, and Father Mulcahy is desperate to receive a promotion.
Hawkeye falls for a visiting Swedish doctor, but is disconcerted by her take-charge ways. As a result, he is forced to confront his chauvinistic views toward powerful women.
Klinger tries to bribe Colonel Potter, but Potter is more concerned with the disappearance of his horse, Sophie. Meanwhile, Hawkeye and B.J. try to hide a man who is about to be drafted into the Korean army.
The arrival of fresh-faced lecturer Capt. Simmons and his subsequent performance in ER turns Winchester into a drunk, Potter into an invalid, and BJ into a bookworm. Meanwhile, Klinger begins acting like he's back home in Toledo.
Margaret celebrates her newly obtained divorce by creating a new way to handle triage and invites a general to observe. Radar is enamored of a new nurse and tries everything he knows to get her attention.
A patient accuses Hawkeye of being a Communist sympathizer when he operates on a Korean soldier ahead of an American. As a result, Colonel Flagg attempts to recruit Winchester to spy on Hawkeye.
Hawkeye performs a shocking and sinister stunt to keep a war-obsessed colonel from sending more young victims to a possible early grave, while Klinger tries to use voodoo on Potter to get a discharge.
In an act of protest, Hawkeye goes to Rosie's Bar and decrees that he will not leave. One by one he is joined by fellow surgeons and staff, including an annoyed Colonel Potter.